Perry: GOP savior or Goldwater II?

Read the whole story when you can, but I was County Chairman in 1964 for Barry Goldwater. I read a great book " The Conscience of a Conservative ", traveled around several states listening to his John Wayne oratory, watching his photo montages in cowboy hat, western sunsets, Arizona Highways photo layouts and getting chills listening to his clear,succinct pronouncements about the welfare state, the power of Washington, the references to Hayek and the Road to Serfdom. I had lots of little Gold elephants, cases of Gold water ginger ale and hundreds of pins with
" In Your Heart You Know He's Right ".
I knew he was right. All of my friends knew he was right.
When he picked Bill Miller as an unknown VP, we KNEW he was right.....because Miller was a true believer too
When he shouted " Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice", we knew he was right.
When he castigated the eastern establishment and Bill Scranton and Nelson Rockefeller for their " squishy" centrist philosophies........we knew he was right.

When Barry lost all of the states but Arizona in the fall election, we knew he was wrong. Barry knew he was wrong. The Barry Goldwater of 1970 would have correctly identified Rick perry as a kind of dull- witted caricature.....a poster child for what was wanted by conservatives rather than what is wanted by America. And that, my friends , leads to a election debacle like 1964 or 1972. If the GOP has amnesia, if the new generation of Tea Party enthusiasts cannot read it's own history, it is doomed to repeat it.
Goldwater knew he needed to moderate his views to accommodate the center...and he did
Goldwater would NEVER vote for Rick Perry

CraigS

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Goldwater was right. You think "right" is determined by majority vote? By who wins elections? Was Reagan wrong, in his famous "A Time for Choosing" speech?

And you say that Goldwater moderated his views, and you imply that thus he became "right." Funny thing, in the '80s, when Reagan was winning elections, and appealing to independents, Goldwater attacked Reagan. So was Reagan wrong?

I'm no fan of Perry. But how about ceasing this bashing of Goldwater in 1964? Goldwater's campaign, as unsuccessful as it was, laid the foundation for the beginning of modern conservatism. The nation wasn't ready for Goldwater, but that didn't mean he was wrong. George Will said of the 1964 election, "It took 16 years to count the votes, and Goldwater won." Perry is no Goldwater, either the '64 version or the '80s version. That's not to say that Perry will win, nor is it to say Perry will lose. I don't know. But it's unlikely he'll lay the foundation to any future conservative movement. Matt Y.

I should edit this a little bit. As Anonymous said, "I'm older than dirt" but I still remember the " trauma" all of us YAF and conservative faithful were in on election night. I should say that Goldwater carried 6 states....Arizona plus 5 southern states angry about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I should also point out that Perry's greatest polling strength in the Gallup Poll last week was in those very same 5 southern states. Just a little " deja vu" , folks

perry did not create jobs there in texas...he is riding on the tails of the already friendly jobs laws that texas has had like..forever...but what he did do is create a place where you have the most minimum wage jobs and less living wag...e jobs and has created a sanctuary state for illiegals that love the minumum wage jobs...and the employers who love to give the jobs to illegals so they don't even have to pay minumim wage....he doubled texas' debt...infact texas is spending more per person than cali right now...texas is soon to implode!

Perry reminds me – not of Goldwater, a highly principled conservative – but of another Texas politician, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the ultimate Democrat insider who resoundingly defeated Goldwater in 1964. We are still living with the horrific legacy of LBJ’s so-called “War on Poverty” and “Great Society,” both of which have destroyed the potential of generations of Americans. LBJ was one of the worst Presidents in U.S. history.

As a high school kid, I felt the bottom had fallen out of my world when LBJ defeated Goldwater. As a youngster, I had had such high hopes for JFK. Then to see him replaced by the sleazy LBJ. It killed my political initiative until Reagan emerged in the early Eighties.

Unlike Goldwater, Perry is not principled. He’s borderline corrupt. He’s played Texas politics to enormous personal and professional financial advantage. And he’s now attempting to take that political carnival show national.